The A321LR made its first transatlantic flight

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Paris - Two weeks after having rolled out on 31 January, the A321LR made its first test flight on the Paris-New York line, taking off from Le Bourget on 13 February.

The Airbus A321LR (MSN7877) landed at New York's JFK Airport the same day at 6:00 pm local time. The aircraft equipped with a test cabin for a flight of 8 hours and 44 minutes against the wind.

The A321LR is a long-range version with a third additional fuel tank while the A321neo has only one or two depending on the demands of companies. This option requires structural reinforcements at the wings and center wing box.

The maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of the aircraft can reach 97 tonnes, compared to 93.5 tonnes for a standard A321neo. When in maximum configuration with the three ACTs (additional center tanks), the A321 LR can reach a range of 4000 nautical miles (7400 kilometers).

Regarding the capacity, the A321LR can carry 206 passengers in a standard two-class layout or 240 passengers in a single-class configuration. Airbus is also investigating a possible luxury long-haul version with a pure business-class cabin that could carry about 100 passengers at the request of an unnamed airline operator.

The A321 LR has already received around hundred orders from the customers around the world. The first company that is expected to receive the first copy is the Danish low-cost carrier Primera Air.

Primera Air will receive 10 Airbus A321neo by the end of 2018, two of them in LR version. To date, the company with the largest number of A321LR on order is the low-cost Norwegian, which expects 30 deliveries from 2019 onwards.